“Girls Of The Zone“ (Zonenmädchen) Documentary, Germany 2013, 75 Min

A film by: Sabine Michel
Music: Sebastian Herzfeld
Cinematography: Susanne Schüle, Martin Langner
Editing: Gudrun Steinbrück-Plenert, Catrin Vogt
Producers: Maria Wischnewski, Holly Tischman
Editorial: Dagmar Mielke, Rolf Bergmann, Martin Hübner

A production by IT WORKS! Medien, in co-production with RBB and MDR, in collaboration with Arte,
funded by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, BKM, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, DEFA-Stiftung and Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen
Distribution: mindjazz pictures

„GIRLS OF THE ZONE“ tells the personal story of director Sabine Michel and her friends Claudi, Vera, Claudia, and Veruscha. Born and raised in the GDR, the fall of the Berlin Wall marks a new beginning for these young women. Goodbye socialism? Each of the girls needs find her own way, make new plans, and build an unknown future in a yet unknown political system. How did these five women handle the challenges of their past? How did they experience this new „freedom“? And where are the now?

Claudi, Vera, Claudia, Veruscha, and Sabine – they grew up inseparably in Dresden’s „Valley of the Clueless“ without West German television. In 1990, they were part of the last class to graduate from high school in the GDR. At the same, their childhood and everything that is familiar to them disappears over night. Raised for a future that never occurs, they suddenly find themselves in enemy territory.



More than 20 years have passed since then. They live in Berlin, Dresden, and Paris. They are career woman, college drop out, mother, wife, single parent, childless, lovers of women, and lovers of men. Together they take a train to Paris – following the trail of the past and old dreams. But what has actually come forth? How did they take charge of their lives? How much „zone“ is still in them?